A Companion to Astrology in the Renaissance

by Brendan Dooley (Editor)

It has been called “the most singular centaur that religion and science have ever produced” (Franz Boll). Astrology as a cultural form has puzzled and fascinated generations of humankind. It reached its apogee in the European Renaissance, when it flourished in literature, political expression, medicine, art, and all the other areas of endeavor catalogued in this unique collection. Brill’s Companion to Renaissance Astrology brings together a wide array of expertise from around the globe to explain the method and matter of this cultural form, including the Arab and Classical heritage, the medieval tradition, the clash with organized religion, the influence on knowledge and the competition with newly emerging ways of knowing, summarizing the current state of research and suggesting new paths.

Contributors include: Giuseppe Bezza, Dieter Blume, Claudia Brosseder, Brendan Dooley, William Eamon, Ornella Faracovi, Hiro Hirai, Wolfgang Hübner, Eileen Reeves, Steven Vanden Broecke, and Graziella Federici Vescovini.

Genres: Astrology, History

470 pages, Hardcover

First published December 15, 2013

Reviews

[John Boardley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good overview of the topic with up-t0-date research. Only wish the chapter Picturing the Stars had been longer (& oddly absent is anything about the astronomical and astrological iconography in medieval manuscripts; e.g. the ninth-century Harley Ms).